By Lindsay Murdoch
Bangkok: The United Nations agency responsible for refugees has washed its hands of Australia's controversial deal to send refugees from the tiny Pacific island of Nauru to Cambodia.
A spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has told Fairfax Media the agency will play no role in resettling refugees who have agreed to give up their hopes of life in Australia to resettle in one of the world's poorest nations.
Uncertainty: Asylum seekers on Nauru.Credit: Angela Wylie
While Australia had said the first group of up to 10 refugees on Nauru were expected to be flown to Cambodia "in the near future", on Monday night a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Peter Dutton conceded that "a Cambodian government delegation is currently travelling to Nauru … They will be helping to progress arrangements for the first group of refugees to be transferred to Cambodia."
That statement came after Koy Kuong, a spokesman for Cambodia's foreign ministry, told The Phnom Penh Post that they had no knowledge of any plane being booked to carry the refugees.
Instead, he said, a delegation from Cambodia would travel to Nauru this week to assess the possible applications of a small number of refugees to relocate to Cambodia.
Phnom Penh has insisted on vetting those who agree to relocate and that all must be deemed genuine refugees fleeing a well-founded fear of persecution in their home countries.
Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for Cambodia's interior ministry, told The Cambodia Daily that no arrivals were imminent and that as far as Cambodia knew no refugees had volunteered to make the move.
"It's not true," he said of the claims that refugees would be arriving within days.
Mr Dutton had earlier denied there was a lack of interest among refugees on Nauru in resettling in Cambodia.
"There are some within the community at the moment trying to pressure people not to take up the offer, but that is just prolonging their period on Nauru," he told the ABC.
Mr Dutton said logistical issues with Cambodian officials could take a few days to sort out but he was adamant there were people who wanted to start their life afresh in the South-east Asian nation.
Both the Australian and Cambodian governments said last year that they were relying on the UNHCR, which has an office in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, to help implement the resettlement program.
"We are not playing a role in this relocation and our staffing structure in Phnom Penh remains unchanged," a UNHCR spokesperson said.
When the deal with Cambodia was announced in September last year, then immigration minister Scott Morrison - who sipped champagne at the ceremony - said that "both governments" were "working closely to ensure the smooth and successful implementation of this arrangement in cooperation with the UNHCR".
But the UNHCR said at the time that it was "deeply concerned" at the precedent set by the agreement, which has also been condemned by Cambodia's opposition parties, human rights groups and refugee advocates.
"Refugees are persons fleeing persecution or the life-threatening effects of armed conflict," said UNHCR commissioner Antonio Guterres. "They are entitled to better treatment than being shipped from one country to the next."
The UNHCR has consistently advocated for asylum seekers to have their claims assessed and to benefit from protection in the territory of the state where they arrive or which has jurisdiction over them.
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has also raised concerns about the agreement, saying Australia is violating the rights of children who would be taken to Cambodia.
Australia, Cambodia and Nauru have asked the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), an organisation funded by 157 member states, to provide some of the support that would normally have been provided by the UNHCR.
The IOM agreed after setting out conditions that included the refugees would receive sufficient funding to allow them to become self-reliant and to have access to health care, education and jobs.
Refugee advocates believe the Australian government is offering up to $15,000 cash and tens of thousands of dollars in other support to the first refugees who agree to go to Cambodia, in addition to $40 million in additional aid to Cambodia.
But Cambodian officials say claims made by Australia to the refugees in a supposed "fact sheet" on the resettlement plans have caused "confusion" in Phnom Penh, including that the first group would depart Nauru on a plane booked for Cambodia as early as Monday.
The document distributed on the island also made the exaggerated claims that Cambodia "does not have problems with violent crime or stray dogs", contradicting a US report that violence was at a "critical level" in the country.